The purpose of this study was to evaluate how likely small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are to adopt affiliate marketing and social media to improve their customer base, profitability, and sustainable growth. Data was collected from 523 entrepreneurs in India, using a purposive sampling method. The results revealed that affiliate marketing has a significant impact on social media and consumer buying intention. Additionally, there are considerable connections between producer's intent and affiliate marketing, producer's intent and social media, and producer's intent and consumer buying intention. This study highlights the critical role of social media and affiliate marketing in enhancing consumer purchasing intentions in SMEs. Based on the results, marketers are recommended to effectively engage with customers on social media platforms to improve their purchasing intentions. This research is groundbreaking as it provides valuable insights into the relationship between social media, affiliate marketing, and consumer behavior in the SME sector.
Top1. Introduction
The widespread use of the internet nowadays has led to various deviations in the commercial sector, by this application being able to connect individuals through telecommunication device usage and enabling its operators to contact up-to-date data in period (Maksimovic, 2018). The advancement of the internet, telecommunication, and information technology has resulted in major changes in all aspects of the company, with the marketing function being the most impacted (Eid & El-Gohary, 2013) (Krishnamurthy & Singh, 2005). Businesses are working hard to reap the benefits of the digital revolution (Ramanathan et al., 2012). As we live in the digital era and are progressing towards society 5.0 (Magd et al., 2023a; Karyamsetty et al., 2023), digitalization of business activities irrespective of size, type, and operation is becoming inevitable (Magd et al., 2023b).
Social media (SM) is the rapidly expanding marketing platform in the whole world (Coremetrics, 2010). SM usage is rapidly increasing among organizations (Chatterjee & Kumar Kar, 2020) and is now observed as a critical technique (Iankova et al., 2019), although companies are using an assortment of SM stages (Ainin et al., 2015). SM is a good fit for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) because of its simplicity to use, technological management, and capacity to connect with a large no. of prospective customers (Tajudeen et al., 2018; Khan, 2023). SM is a popular option for SMEs (Alford & Page, 2015; Khan, 2023) as it allows more transparent communication and helps businesses understand and respond to consumer demands professionally and effectively (Parveen et al., 2016). As experts highly favor the benefits of social networking marketing, SMEs must decide whether to implement this innovative marketing technology because of lack of verifiable outcomes, as well as difficulty creating measuring criteria to evaluate efficacy, are among the hurdles.
When a business recruits trustworthy affiliate marketers to publicize its goods and services on its own website is referred to as affiliate marketing (AM) (Duffy, 2005) (Mazurek & Kucia, 2011). AM is rapidly becoming one of the most popular online advertisings as well as e-commerce techniques for increasing sales (Fox & Wareham, 2012). It appears to have more ability than preceding online marketing pains (Duffy, 2005). Establishments are attractive additional concerns in affiliate marketing, as the greatest are trying to locate themselves in e-commerce manufacturing with the help of associates (Newton & Ojo, 2018).
SMEs have traditionally been the foundation of national economies. Most govt. views the SME sector as a key economic engine and provider of job opportunities (MacGregor & Vrazalic, 2007). In most countries, SMEs play a significant role in economic activity (Simpson & Docherty, 2004). Marketing is a strategic instrument for business development that aids in the appropriate growth and long-term viability of micro, small, and medium-sized businesses. It is critical for the success of any business, and although major corporations have hired people to handle the marketing of their products or services, micro (handicraft) as well as other small businesses lack the financial resources to invest in promoting crafts items.